Having qualified as a doctor in 1948, the year the NHS was founded, Dr John Marks remained committed to it all his life.

He was involved in many high-profile issues, for example, the reform of the abortion law, having witnessed the fatal effect of a botched home attempt to end pregnancy.

This was a stance that angered some members of the BMA and was criticised by Chief Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits, who considered social abortion a grave offence and communicated this to Jewish doctors. Nevertheless, the Abortion Act was passed in 1967.

Other instances of Marks’ involvement in medical politics included opposition to proposed NHS reforms put forward by Kenneth Clarke, the Minister of Health, in the 1990s, and the pay of junior doctors. It was this support for junior doctors that led to criticism from other eminent doctors at a lunch hosted by William Rees-Mogg, the editor of The Times, in 1976.

Nevertheless, John Marks, who has died aged 97, was elected chairman of the BMA in 1984 and was instrumental in raising the awareness of issues including the need for confidentiality of HIV/Aids sufferers, and in enforcing the use of seat belts.

These were some of several matters he sought to introduce during his six years as chairman.

Another was a key role in the founding of the College of General Practitioners. He was also aware of the limitations of the NHS that were rarely raised in public. He strongly opposed proposals to permit GP surgeries to advertise their treatments and facilities.

Born to parents who were descendants of Polish-Jewish immigrants, he attended Willesden County Grammar School and then Edinburgh University, where he studied medicine. He also did military training half a day a week. His final year in obstetrics and gynaecology was in Dublin.

After he qualified as a doctor he had two brief jobs as a locum casualty officer and was then conscripted into the Royal Army Medical Corp in Egypt. There a patient coughed into his face, which led to the loss of sight in his left eye.

He met his wife Shirley Nathan, a fellow doctor, at a dance organised by the London Jewish Graduates Association and they were married at Hendon Synagogue on June 17, 1954. They had three children, Richard, Helen and Laura. Marks considered marrying Shirley the most important feature of his life.

They moved to Borehamwood and for more than 30 years Marks served as a family doctor in the newly established GP practice where he was made a partner. He was joined there by Shirley, despite opposition to female doctors by other partners at the practice.

There he became a founder of Borehamwood Synagogue, and during his career was involved with both the North Western Reform Synagogue and Edgware Reform Synagogue. A member of the Jewish Medical Association, he and Shirley held a Chanukah Party every year attended by their extended family.

He is survived by Shirley, his children, eight grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, and two younger siblings, Vincent and Sheila.

Dr John Marks: born May 30, 1925. Died September 20, 2022.