A new primary care clinic is opening in Qualicum Beach next week, the result of over two and a half years of work to bring the facility to fruition. (Image Credit: Google Maps)
specialist visits

New primary care clinic opening in Oceanside

Oct 26, 2026 | 11:58 AM

QUALICUM BEACH — A new primary care clinic in Oceanside is days away from welcoming patients, providing direct access to medical care and a range of specialists.

Primrose Medical Centre will celebrate their grand opening on Monday, Oct. 26, one full week before the first patients will walk through the doors of the new location at 661 Primrose St.

Susanne Cunningham is one of the many leaders behind the project, through her role as Chair of the Mid-Island Health Alliance, with Monday’s opening the culmination of two and a half years of work by the team.

“What our research revealed is that we needed space and a location for physicians to practice. We can bring physicians to the area, but if there’s no place for them to practice, it’s really for naught. We were looking for space that would be suitable to create a primary care centre, and we started about that work.”

After spending around 18 months searching for spaces across the mid-Island, Cunningham said the Primrose St. space presented itself last fall.

It will provide a stable, long-term home for new primary care opportunities for those living not only in Qualicum Beach but across the region as well.

“There have been incidences I’m sure where there have been physicians that have come and gone. But…Primrose has a model that offers not only a culture but also a lifestyle that really caters to the physician’s needs. Physicians want to work in an environment where they’re feeling supported. They want to work in an environment where they feel that their family is welcome.”

In addition to four family physicians, two nurses, and a nurse practitioner set to join in the coming weeks, a rotating schedule of specialists have also committed to practicing out of the clinic, including those focusing on women’s health, geriatric care, skin cancers, and cardiologists.

Patients looking to secure a spot at Primrose should be registered through the province’s Health Connect Registry, which helps link those seeking care with available providers.

Cunningham said direct registration through the clinic itself is not offered.

“The patients that will form the base for patient care in Primrose Medical Centre will be coming from that list. It’s the one sure way that we will know that patients are in need, we get the demographic of what’s happening to them, how long they’ve been on the list, and the criticality or the acuity of the patients themselves.”

Around $1.5 million was spent on getting the facility ready for opening, in partnership with the Mid-Island Health Alliance and the Nanaimo & District Hospital Foundation.

Dr. Kelly Hadfield will be one of the on-site leads and said the facility is poised to expand over time.

“The Primrose clinic has room to grow to about three times our opening team, so we’ll be welcoming new patients steadily off the central patient registry as more family doctors and nurse practitioners join us, and we’re deeply grateful to everyone who helped make this possible.”

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