Hospital consultants at one of Dublin's biggest hospitals will not be able to comment publicly on any issue in future without first informing the hospital's chief executive, if a new code of conduct for staff is introduced.
Details of the new code for medical staff at Beaumont Hospital are contained in documents released to The Irish Times under the Freedom of Information Act.
The documents reveal the hospital is also drawing up a code of conduct for pharmaceutical representatives visiting the hospital, and that it plans to strictly monitor the sponsorship they provide.
The code, however, could prove controversial. The secretary general of the Irish Hospital Consultants' Association, Mr Finbarr Fitzpatrick, said he would not stand for a "muzzling" of consultants.
He said consultants had a duty to speak out if they were concerned about issues which affected patients, such as cutbacks, and it was unlikely, if they wanted to criticise management, that a chief executive would approve their statement in advance. "We would totally oppose that," he said.
In addition, under latest Medical Council ethical guidelines, doctors are obliged to engage in "whistle-blowing" if they have concerns about the conduct of other doctors. The hospital documents state that, under the new code, "consultants who wish to comment publicly on any issues will first discuss the matter with the chairman of the medical executive who will in turn inform the chief executive".
When a consultant at the hospital was asked yesterday by this newspaper to express a view on the new code, the consultant was unaware of the document.
A hospital spokesman said the document was in draft form and had been sent to the medical executive for comments. He said the hospital was not trying to muzzle consultants. It wanted the CEO, just as a matter of courtesy, to be informed of issues being raised publicly.
On the subject of doctors obtaining funding from drug company representatives, the document states: "In regard to sponsorship for attendance at meetings, a log of all meetings attended will be maintained, together with details of sponsorship received."
This issue is also referred to in the Medical Council's new guidelines issued last week. They state that "non-promotional educational grants" represent the only acceptable form of financial support by the pharmaceutical and medical manufacturing industries to individual doctors.
The inspector of mental hospitals, Dr Dermot Walsh, last year expressed concern at the inroads made on consultant time "by the sharp increase in the promotional activities of pharmaceutical companies".