Hospital bosses have distanced themselves from suggestions they agreed to a new junior doctors contract being imposed after their names were linked to a letter Jeremy Hunt used to justify the decision.
More than half of the NHS bosses named on a letter have said they are against the imposition of the new contracts.
The Health Secretary cited their support when announcing his decision to force through changes to pay and conditions.
Negotiations on junior doctor contracts were made "more difficult" by medics voicing their opinion on social media, the government's top negotiator has said.
Sir David Dalton, chief executive of Salford Royal NHS Trust, said comments on Facebook and Twitter had been a "huge impediment" to the talks, although he said they were not the main reason they failed.
"It's been done in a goldfish bowl of people giving real-time commentary and that makes it more difficult to create the space for negotiations," he is quoted in the Times newspaper.
Petition calling for vote of 'no confidence in Hunt' signed 200,000 times after announcement of junior doctors contracts being imposed.
More NHS bosses named on a letter cited by Jeremy Hunt as he announced imposing junior doctors contracts confirm they are against the move.
A junior doctor launches a scathing attack on Health Secretary saying: "Sc*** you Jeremy Hunt, you've picked a fight with the wrong crowd".