The longer our End the Abuse campaign continues, the more appalling becomes the evidence we unearth of incidents that NHS staff have to endure at the hands of the public they are trying to heal.

The latest shameful story comes from the orthopaedic unit at Bradford Royal Infirmary where medical staff see almost 1,000 patients every week. A sister on the ward reports that they have to deal with abusive clients every day and on a couple of occasions in a week have to call in security staff because the abuse becomes physically violent.

This is obviously a very busy department in which the staff are at full stretch. They often work through without a break yet put up with it because they come into the job as a vocation to help people. The last thing they need is abuse which, while they might be able to deal with it as it happens, can leave them so shaken up that they have to take time away from the ward to pull themselves together.

That in turn puts more pressure on the rest of the staff and increases any delays that patients might be experiencing.

Admittedly, some of the patients arriving in the orthopaedic unit might already have had a lengthy wait in A&E and could be on a short fuse. But that is no excuse for taking out their frustrations on the staff. These are people who are doing their best to help, often in difficult circumstances which are not of their making.

They deserve to be treated with patience and respect.