At the Otago District Health Board hospital advisory committee meeting yesterday, chief operating officer Vivian Blake said given the success of the "Return to Your Southern Roots" promotion which resulted in two health professionals deciding to return home to work, the healthdownsouth team would consider doing it again.
The promotion in October, which offered a free pint to the first 100 people who took up the invitation to attend, attracted criticism from Mr Egan, who is the Public Health Association's Otago and Southland chairman.
He said the board should not be associating itself with alcohol.
Committee and board chairman Richard Thomson expressed concern the event had been portrayed as the board entering into sponsorship with Speight's.
It involved getting permission to use the bar at the same time anyone else could have walked in that night.
If that was a sponsorship arrangement, it was a " very poor deal".
He said he did not think the board should be put off with comments made about the event and he was concerned the staff involved with the promotion were worried they had done something inappropriate.
Mr Egan, speaking after the meeting, said he was disappointed at the suggestion the event could be held again.
There could be more creative options available to the team which could be just as interesting and cost about the same amount of money.
He believed holding the event in the bar would go against the advice of the boards' own health promotion staff " if they were allowed to voice their opinion".
Mr Egan said he would be interested to talk to board management about the issue.
In a discussion paper produced by women's health, children's health and public health group manager Dr Pip Stewart following a recent approach by Ronald McDonald Charities to fund family rooms in both Dunedin and Invercargill hospitals, the ethics of involvement with alcohol, tobacco and fast food industries were questioned.
"Health would in no circumstances promote alcohol or cigarette consumption either overtly or covertly as our level of understanding/acceptance of the potential for harm connected with these products would make such actions unconscionable, " she said.
When the bar event was questioned last month, chief executive Brian Rousseau said a recommendation in Ms Stewart's report to develop a policy not accepting sponsorship or funding from any entity whose activities were potentially health compromising or clearly linked with such entities was rejected as each case should be treated on its own merit.
Offering one free beer was not promoting irresponsible drinking, he said.
Ms Stewart's report has not been discussed publicly by the Otago board.
Speaking after the committee meeting, Mr Thomson said there were real difficulties in trying to write a blanket policy and he agreed with the view that each proposal should be considered.
He gave the example of the recent donation by the Fresh Futures campaign, run by supermarket chain Progressive Enterprises, and asked whether the board should have rejected that because the supermarkets sold cigarettes and alcohol.
If Rothmans wanted to sponsor the hospital in return for naming rights that would not be a difficult decision for the board to make, he said.
Asked if there were a risk of the board appearing to be at odds with its public health officials, Mr Thomson said part of the board's role was to run a ruler over staff views to see how they fitted in with the man in the street.
Sometimes that would create " some conflict".
