MB ChB Liverpool 1958; DPM Manch 1965; MRCPsych 1970.
Ford was born in Northwich on 24 September 1926 and was educated at Liverpool College and the University of Liverpool. After qualifying, Ford held junior positions at Sefton General Hospital and at the neurosurgical unit of Walton Hospital Liverpool. He worked in general practice in Middlewich before being appointed senior registrar (pyschiatry) at Cheadle Royal Hospital. He was promoted to consultant psychiatrist in 1967. Ford became a member of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists in 1947 and was a member of Manchester Medical Society . Ford's wife, Joan Mary Ford, née Thomas, was a general practitioner and assistant in psychiatry at Cheadle Royal Hospital. She qualified in Liverpool in 1958 and held junior positions at Sefton General Hospital and Stepping-Hill Hospital, Stockport.