Hospitals and GP commissioning groups across south west London and Epsom have been told all their public statements about hugely controversial proposals to reshape acute hospital care should be "discussed and agreed in advance" with the team that drew up the proposals.

Within the past few days the Better Services Better Value (BSBV) team has issued a Media Protocol for the BSBV Programme to them which contains a raft of provisions aimed at restricting what they tell the public.

These include one that states that all digital communications such as Twitter and Facebook should be supportive of BSBV's "aspirations and approach".

The existence of the document was leaked to the Epsom Guardian yesterday and a copy of the document has been provided to the paper by the BSBV press team.

The protocol has angered local health campaigners who have branded it "outrageous".

It states: "It is important that public messages about BSBV are consistent and factually correct, while reflecting the concerns of local organisations and their staff.

"It is not helpful if different parts of the service are seen to contradict one another.

"We would not want to be seen to ‘gag’ clinicians, especially as BSBV is a clinically-led programme.

"The aim is to ensure we work well together as partners in the programme and on a ‘no surprises’ basis."

The document states that all statements about BSBV "should be discussed and agreed in advance with the BSBV communications team", and that BSBV would offer assistance on issues including those of "accuracy or tone".

Releases by the BSBV team should also "be discussed and agreed in advance with the provider or CCG" and if any freedom of information requests are received, they will be "shared immediately".

It states "BSBV will share regular lines to take" and any interview requests should be discussed with BSBV.

Significantly, it states: "Social media and trust websites should generally reflect the fact that providers and CCGs are partners in the BSBV programme and support its aspirations and approach."

And: "Providers should not brief against each other in any media or public forum. It would be unhelpful if providers sought to undermine the position of other providers in relation to where services should be located in future."

A BSBV spokesman said the aim of the protocol is to ensure all information on BSBV which goes into the public domain is accurate, and that it was agreed by all partners of the BSBV programme board, and all trusts and CCGs, at its meeting of May 23.

He added: "The protocol recognises that different organisations may have differing views on elements of the programme which they are free to express.

"It also specifies that individual clinicians are free to express their views.

"It is good practice in large programmes with multiple partners for people to keep each other informed of what they are saying publicly."

Epsom health campaigner Rosemary Najim said: “It’s quite outrageous.”

Bess Harding, founder of the Epsom Medical Equipment Fund, said: “Why write anything in the first place if they are being told what to write?

“It’s a stitch-up. BSBV are controlling them.

"They are not being allowed to speak and there are just three members of Surrey Downs commissioning group representing the whole of Surrey Downs going forward as it is.”