A Bradley Stoke family celebrating the birth of their baby boy are worried pregnant women are struggling to access midwife services which used to be available at their local surgery.

Pregnant women in the area were to see their midwife at a temporary building attached to Bradley Stoke Surgery in Brook Way.

But early this year, the service was removed in advance of the surgery's redevelopment, a project which will see it triple in size. However, 10 months on work still has not begun.

Sachin and Ritu Singhal used the midwife service regularly during Ritu's pregnancy with their first child Alisha, who is now two.

But they were dismayed that throughout her second pregnancy with Shaan, who was born premature on November 7, they had to go to Filton.

"The decision to remove the midwife service was premature because work still hasn't started," said Mr Singhal, of Ormonds Close. "It's disappointing because there is no direct bus route to the clinic in Shields Avenue, Filton, which is between Filton Avenue and the Gloucester Road."

Mr Singhal, who works in telecommunications at Aztec West, added: "My wife was lucky because I was able to use my lunchtime to drive Ritu to her appointments in Filton, but many women expecting a baby may not be able to do that.

"The midwives at Bradley Stoke provided an absolutely brilliant service throughout my wife's first pregnancy."

When Mr Singhal ran in the Bradley Stoke Town Council by-election recently – narrowly losing out to Conservative Ernie Brown for the Meadowbank seat – he found there were more than 200 pregnant women in the town at any one time.

Grant Addison, NHS South Gloucestershire's associate director of Primary and Community Care, said: "The builders have been contracted and the redevelopment will start after Christmas.

"With hindsight, the service was moved earlier than needed. However, when planning permission was given in December 2008, building works were expected to start in March 2009. This was why it was imperative to find the nearest convenient temporary home for the midwife service at the Patchway and Filton clinics. However, due to the credit crunch Bradley Stoke Practice found there were numerous legal and financial hold-ups, hence the delay.

"We do appreciate that some women have found the move inconvenient but there was no other NHS premises we could use in the Bradley Stoke area.

"We have tried to make the temporary service as easy to use as possible by offering the flexibility for pregnant mums to go to either the Patchway or Filton clinic, whichever was easiest for them.

"There is a bus service that runs from outside Bradley Stoke Surgery which does drop you about 600 metres from Filton clinic on Shields Avenue.

"All pregnant women can access a midwife at any time if they have an emergency and all new mums receive a series of home visits after the birth."

"We do appreciate that the delay has been inconvenient but, now that the building work will be starting soon, we hope that patients and the wider community in Bradley Stoke will find the new facility to be worth it."