It is back to the drawing board for health bosses in West Sussex after private healthcare firm Bupa suddenly announced it was withdrawing from negotiations for a contract to run NHS musculoskeletal services in the county.

Campaigners are understandably relieved and happy about the move but now questions need to be asked about how and why the decision by the Coastal West Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group came to be made in the first place.

It was only when an independent assessment into the impact of the changes (fuelled by protests by campaign groups, politicians and residents) showed just how much it would badly affect Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust, that Bupa decided to pull out.

The obvious question that needs to be answered is why that assessment was not carried out before the decision to name Bupa as the preferred bidder was made.

The NHS is under extreme financial pressure at the moment and so losing money though processes like this is not welcome.

It is clear health bosses will have a lot of explaining to do over the coming weeks.