The suspension of Fit for the Future for the time being follows an announcement that NHS trusts running Worthing Hospital and St Richard's Hospital in Chichester are in merger talks.
Arundel and South Downs MP Nick Herbert said: "It surely sounds the death knell for the hated plans to downgrade accident and emergency services, and hopefully it also signals that maternity services will be retained as well.
"I shudder to think of the millions of pounds in NHS funds wasted on Fit for the Future."
News of the merger talks comes after a similar merger between hospital trusts in Brighton and Mid Sussex nearly eight years ago which led to a 'hot/cold' surgical split with emergency surgery moving to Brighton.
Mid Sussex MP Nicholas Soames said the Fit for the Future process would not have been necessary if similar merger talks between Worthing and Chichester had started months ago, adding: "Doctors are as difficult to deal with as the miners' union - a great deal of time and money could have been saved."

Full report in this week's Mid Sussex Times