Some private ambulance operators claim the provincial government is going back on a promise regarding contract negotiations.

The Newfoundland and Labrador Private Ambulance Operators Association said government had promised that talks wouldn't be affected by an independent review of ambulance services.

But association president Wade Smith says they've now been told negotiations won't begin until after the review is completed.

The ambulance operators' contract with the province expired a year ago.

"In the last contract, because we have been having so much difficulty to get the government to talk to us, we stipulated in a clause for government to negotiate 180 days prior to the termination of the current agreement, and that would be meaningful negotiations, and everybody agreed to it," Smith said.

"So right now, government is not actually holding up their end of the contract."

Health Minister Susan Sullivan said negotiations with private operators will have to wait until the review is finished. (CBC)

Smith said private operators are in need of a new contract because they are paid much less than publicly-funded, hospital-based ambulance workers.

"Our paramedics are paid $5 less per hour than the hospital-based paramedics," he said.

Smith added he fears private operators will abandon rural areas if a new contract isn't worked out soon.

Waiting game

Health Minister Susan Sullivan said repeatedly on Monday that negotiations with private operators are on hold until the review is finished.

"From our perspective, it really is prudent to wait for the outcome of the ambulance review that is ongoing," she said.

"The programming that will result from the recommendations of that review will shape where we are going with ambulance operation in this province."

Government announced in December that it was paying a consultant $250,000 to review all of the province's ambulance services.