While the father of two young sons, aged four and two, also saw the area as a good place to raise a family with his GP wife, Steve (39) also has important professional reasons behind the move.

"Raigmore is a fantastic hospital, but there are opportunities for improving things," he said, admitting that in some ways Raigmore lagged 10 years behind other hospitals in the service it provided for its patients.

"There are some aspects of care which patients get here that are excellent, but in other areas we lag behind."

For example, 400 patients a year go east to Aberdeen for stenting, a procedure using balloons to treat damaged arteries.

It is a journey Steve himself makes once a fortnight to carry out the procedure at Aberdeen, though finding ways to cut down the number of patients who have to go outwith the Highlands for treatment is one of the reasons Steve was brought to Raigmore.

"It's about trying to be innovative and finding new ways of working. You can't take what happens in an inner city and apply it to the Highlands," he added.

Which is another reason he regards his recent award of a prestigious honorary chair at the University of Stirling as such a boon.

After admitting that at under 40, he still does not quite feel like "Professor Leslie", Steve added: "A professorship is a chance to make things better. What's the use of becoming a professor when you're 68? If you get it when you are 38, that gives you a chance to do something."

Steve, the author of over 60 original papers, reviews and book chapters, is also an honorary reader at the UHI Millennium Institute.

"Raigmore is slightly unique because we have three universities or higher education institutions involved," he said.

"You have the UHI, Stirling — which runs the nursing degree — and Aberdeen, which has a lot of medical students at Raigmore. The challenge is to make these three organisations more collaborative, but I think, on the whole, it's a strength, because you have three universities effectively trying to build up their presence in the Highlands. That can only be beneficial."

The son of two teachers — mother Moira is the long-serving head teacher of Raigmore Primary School in Inverness and his father Jim is a retired geographer — Steve agrees he comes from a family with a tradition of public service.

Deciding in school that medicine was a good career move, it was only after he began studying in Edinburgh that he decided to specialise in cardiology.

"Cardiology is a very emotive area," he said.

"Everybody knows somebody with heart problems so it's an area everyone can relate to."

He remained in Edinburgh for 19 years before returning to the Highlands as a consultant at Raigmore, where he is also lead clinician for the Highland Heart Failure Service.

"It's lovely to come back because I've bumped into people I haven't seen in 20 years, but at the same time, it feels like moving to a new town because I never lived in Inverness before," he added.

As a heart consultant, Steve should be kept busy. The area has a higher than average incidence of heart disease, though this is less to do with a particularly unhealthy lifestyle in the north of Scotland than demographics.

"That's mostly because older people retire here and younger people move away, so that slightly skews the results," Steve explained.

Research has always played an important part in Steve's medical career and one of his concerns about moving to Raigmore was that he might not be able to continue this. However, he has been able to carry out some research and with the work also being done by the neighbouring Centre for Health Science, believes there is as a very positive feel to research in the area, even if it is still small scale.

Steve Leslie - retuning to Raigmore Hospital after 19 years Picture Gary Anthony

He is also, as a sideline, helping his father write a history of Highland hospitals and Jim Leslie, who has been commissioned by the UHI and NHS, has found between 60 and 80 that served or continue to serve the Highland population.

The days when every sizable community seemed to have its own hospital are long gone, however.

"The days of having a surgeon-doctor working on his own are just not sustainable any more," Steve added. Instead looking to a hospital where there are enough staff and expertise available to ensure it can deliver as much high quality care as possible without compromise is the aim.

Among the improvements he would like to see is better communication with GPs.

"GPs should be able to use me as a resource, but one of the problems with the NHS is that the systems are so cumbersome. I should be doing as little admin and as much doctoring work as possible," Steve said, adding that he would always want more doctors on his wish list as he finds himself with a workload that rivals his days as a junior doctor.

"Doing 90 to 100 hours a week was pretty life changing. It's excellent fun, but it's all you do — you work hard, play hard and sleep when you can," Steve said.

"The perception is that when you become a consultant, you only do two rounds a week, but I'm in at weekends and at night, even when I'm not formally on call, trying to get through the paperwork and do the research side. I probably work harder than when I was training, but it is more rewarding because you can make changes."

The pressure will be eased slightly by the arrival of a third cardiologist, Jamie Smith, this month. It is a record for Raigmore, but Steve adds it "should be four, five or six", giving the consultants more time to develop services as well as care for patients.

"People don't always get to see a consultant in clinic. That's not a standard that's acceptable in the 21st century," Steve said, adding that he would like to see greater focus from the NHS on cardiac services.

"We are 10 years behind here because managers don't have experience of cardiac services elsewhere," he said.

"I have a very clear vision of where I want cardiac services to go. Unfortunately, trying to persuade other people to share that vision is hard work.

"We have to be patient orientated and persuade people not to be more demanding, but not settle for care that isn't world class. It might be more expensive and you might have to access it in a different way, but you should not be denied access to specialist services because you live in a remote area. I passionately believe that."

Among the plus points Raigmore and the Highlands have in treating cardiac patients is the Highland Heartbeat Centre. Part-funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF), the centre provides information and support including exercise advice, education about the disease and risk factors, guidance on healthier living and social support and confidence building for cardiac patients from across the Highlands.

"Our cardiac rehabilitation is fantastic compared with other facilities," Steve acknowledged.

A BHF research fellow, Steve has long-standing links with the charity. He was awarded BHF Junior Fellowship Funding which enabled him to complete a PhD in cardiovascular pharmacology and in turn feels it is vital to reciprocate by supporting the charity in turn.

"I was down at the shop encouraging people to become volunteers and it's awesome the amount of time that people give to BHF," he said. "For me to be involved in that is really important, because I can at least give something back to the volunteers. If you have a consultant involved in local fund-raising, I think they appreciate that medical input as to where the money goes. I'll hopefully be involved with the BHF throughout my career and encourage them as much as possible."

Despite, or because of the challenges he faces, Steve has no regrets about returning to the Highlands.

"I do feel very privileged to have this job and be able to make a difference," he declared.

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