Medicine is supposed to be a caring profession. Those who work in it are perhaps among the last people you would expect to be infected by the modern disease of bullying. Yet as a disturbing report today reveals, the NHS is apparently as badly blighted as other sectors by this scourge, and the problem is getting worse.

It is staggering that on top of the one-in-four health service workers who have been bullied and harassed by patients and their relatives (a situation this newspaper has been working hard to change through the End the Abuse campaign), nearly one in seven report similar experiences from other members of staff.

Several reasons are suggested for the reported increase in bullying, including the target ethos in the health service which has produced a "survival of the fittest" culture and the use of bullying as part of an "initiation rite".

There is the additional possibility that staff are realising that they do not have to put up with this treatment and are reporting more incidents. If that is the case, we can expect the problem to appear to get worse before it gets better as the service strives to clean up its act.

The Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which says it has a zero tolerance approach, is urging bullied people to report the matter. It is to be hoped that more and more people will feel they have the confidence to do so to enable NHS workers to devote all their attention to treating the sick rather than to bullying or being bullied.