Having once worked at Westmead Hospital for more than 30 years and witnessing many of the world advances made by this marvellous institution, the people of Sydney must not have their faith in this beloved hospital undermined by the human conflicts in the Intensive Care Unit. (Bullies, cliques afflict the ICU, 5/12). Often under scrutiny because of the frequent high-profile admissions, intensity of workload and emotional exhaustion after coping with the untimely deaths of so many Covid patients, history surely behoves us to be charitable. Having co-ordinated educational anaesthetic training programs over twenty five years which attracted a generation of the best in medicine, I contributed to a morale which made working in our department the number one choice for young anaesthetists establishing their careers. Many of those amazing individuals are also now working across the Intensive Care Units in Sydney, and as patients, we should be inspired and reassured that firm commitment to duty, obsessive preoccupation to detail and an insistence on doing everything to save lives might seem like bullying to some. It is unfortunate that those still working there are unable to defend their excellent reputation and record of service. Alan Sexton, North Parramatta 6Dec2022.