New Primrose Clinic coming to Qualicum Beach

Back in December I received a news release from the "Mid Island Health Alliance" (MIHA) announcing "The Primrose Medical Centre is set to open in September 2026 ....after a year of planning, collaboration, and recruitment, four physicians have now been secured to launch the centre." A link to the press release is at the end of this article.

I was surprised that this release came from MIHA, an organization I had never heard of before. Being Christmas, and other distractions I did not follow up until I saw an article in the PQB News dated January 14th 2026, profiling our Mayor and his wish list for 2026. In that article Mayor Westbroek declared "Health care is at the top of my list. I regularly hear from neighbours who are worried about access to a family doctor or nurse practitioner. That's why the opening of the Primrose-Conner Medical Centre is so important. It's a real step forward in strengthening primary care and helping us attract and retain practitioners in our community."

So who is Mid Island Health Alliance?

MIHA is a volunteer led incorporated not for profit society of experienced business and health care professionals whose role is to facilitate and advocate for primary care services for residents within the region of Oceanside. Through community networking and the QB Newcomers Group, MIHA was formed to begin the research and later develop a strategy to optimize health care in Oceanside through community powered philanthropy. As MIHA is a relatively new not for profit, they have partnered with the Nanaimo & District Hospital Foundation to collect donations towards the various projects MIHA envisions in the next few years. I confirmed with Susanne Cunningham, Director and Chair of MIHA, that all funds donated through the Nanaimo & District Hospital Foundation directed to the MIHA account, will be earmarked for the Primrose Medical Centre project unless otherwise noted.

MIHA envisions more than just the Primrose Medical Centre and is exploring additional locations to optimize primary care in Oceanside.

Business models of delivering primary health care

I recall in the early days of my banking career that newly graduated family physicians would apply for loans to either buy an existing practice or in rare cases to set up a new practice with all the inherent risks of running a business financed by debt on top of student loan debt. Generally these loans were relatively easy to get given the projected earning power of a medical professional.

In todays environment of doctor shortages, it is no longer necessary for doctors to take on that level of risk. Many doctors today do not want to take on the responsibility and expense of managing a business... they simply want to practice medicine. To meet the needs of these doctors, a variety of business models are beginning to emerge.

In Colwood, we see the town opening and managing a clinic and hiring doctors as town employees. The upside of this approach appears to be the ability to restrict intake of patients to only those living within the City of Colwood, as opposed to from the Health Connect Registry representing residents from a much broader geographic area. The downside of this model is that local property owners (a subset of town residents) are taking on the expense and risk of providing health care in their respective community. This model is still very new and time is needed to determine if it works in practice or if it just represents the community taking on a provincial obligation.

Update on Flowerstone Clinic

Many Qualicum Beach residents will be familiar with The Flowerstone Clinic (Flowerstone) located next to Pharma Save on Memorial . Flowerstone recently celebrated their 5th anniversary after a challenging start.

Flowerstone is a Nurse Practitioner led clinic providing a patient medical home. New patients are taken from the Health Connect Registry with boundaries set by the Ministry of Health. For Flowerstone this includes an area from Nanoose Bay through to Bowser.

It is worthwhile to examine their business model. Flowerstone is funded through the Ministry of Health and the Ministry is also the gate keeper determining how many Nurse Practitioner's the Ministry will fund for this clinic. Original leaseholds and equipment requirements were funded by the Ministry. Once established the clinic was expected to fund new and replacement equipment, all overhead including rent, utilities and supporting staff from "contributions" paid by the Nurse Practitioners from their individual nurse contracts with the Ministry. Effectively the Nurse Practitioners all chip in to cover the overhead expenses of running the clinic such as rent, utilities, and non medical staff. The Flowerstone Health Society is the actual tenant and provides advice and guidance to the clinic to collaboratively bring the current 8 Nurse Practitioners under one roof with a common overhead structure. Flowerstone operates a 6 days a week with 4500 patients currently attached. The Ministry's contract requires that a senior Nurse Practitioner hold 800 patients each, so as a result, this clinic is expected to provide a medical home to 6400 patients.

Flowerstone has had success in recruiting Nurse Practitioners by offering practicum opportunities for recent graduates.

Rising inflationary overhead costs, including non medical staff wages, rent, utility and supplies put pressure on this funding model. This makes operating at sufficient scale with minimal space a key to success. Nurse Practitioners at Flowerstone currently work 4 days a week of which one day is working from home due to space limitations.

Primrose Medical Centre proposed model

It is still early days for the MIHA sponsored Primrose Medical Centre. A location has been identified , 661 Primrose Steet , the site vacated by Bank of Montreal in a prime downtown location across from the town hall. The business plan is not yet finalized, however MIHA's vision is for 6 to 10 doctors to be recruited when the centre is fully operational with a fully fixtured clinic. To date MIHA has 4 doctors recruited with a September start date. MIHA envisions the Centre will also provide rental space to allow specialty clinics and specialists such as cardiologists, dermatologists, and some psychiatric services on a rotational basis.

The startup costs of approximately $1.2 million to $1.5 million to cover leaseholds and equipment is anticipated to be funded through community powered philanthropy. To date MIHA has successfully negotiated a generous $500,000 donation from Dr. Paul and Gill Conner who are the previous owners of the building and long time Qualicum Beach residents. MIHA reports total private donations thus far to equal greater than $700,000.

The business model for this centre is very different to Flowerstone. MIHA has chosen to advance their vision knowing no funding would be available from the Ministry of Health due to budget constraints and hence MIHA has decided to proceed without government assistance in light of the dire and urgent need for more primary health care services in Oceanside. MIHA hopes to raise the remaining funds to build out the clinic leaseholds including equipment through community philanthropy with a relatively short time line. The lease holder and ultimate asset holder entity has not been finalized. I assume that the doctors operating within the clinic will be funding ongoing overheads and equipment replacements over the life of the clinic by contributions from their billings to the Ministry of Health. Similar to Flowerstone and all medical clinics, inflationary overhead costs including non medical staff wages, rent, utilities and supplies will put pressure on this funding model and make operating at sufficient scale with minimal space a key to success. However, unlike Flowerstone, we understand this medical centre is being proposed without the benefit of Ministry of Health support beyond MSP billings, as trying to get this facility opened through the Ministry would result in extended delays when the community need is now.

A MIHA delegation is scheduled to present to QB council on February 11th with a request for a funding contribution to the Primrose Clinic. This is an open regular council meeting and the public is welcome to attend.

For profit access to health care models

There are many "for profit" access to healthcare businesses operating in B.C.

Both TELUS Health and Victoria based Care 2 Talk which operates an office here in Qualicum Beach, come to mind. These options provide easy access to medical care professionals but at private cost. Essentially consumers are paying out of pocket to access services provided by the Health Ministry. At Care 2 Talk, costs range from $80 per month for virtual appointments, to $250 per month for in person visits. We understand that the Qualicum Care 2 Talk office is currently staffed with a Nurse Practitioner who can sometimes do same day appointments and the wait time for a regular appointment is usually 2 to 3 days. Care 2 Talk may be an option for some people who have been languishing on the Health Connect Registry for years and have now reached the point of frustration or hopelessness in our systems.

The rate of adoption to the "for profit virtual healthcare access" model is driven by many factors including not only the out of pocket cost and real or perceived reduction in quality of care but also the fear of losing universal free healthcare in Canada altogether over time.

Conclusion

In reviewing the various business models, none are perfect and our reality going forward is likely a combination of many different models tailored to specific user groups.

I do see a common thread in the nonprofit models discussed earlier. In prior times

health professionals had "skin in the game" which bonded them closer to the community they served. Doctors took loans that required years to repay so they were not likely to "up stakes" to go to an other jurisdiction. The non profit models being formed to attract scarce medical professionals all remove that "skin in the game" barrier to leave and seek the next best offer on the table. As along as scarcity of resources continue, we may find ourselves in a continuing bidding war to keep the talent in Qualicum Beach. Beyond a soft landing to open their practice, we also need to focus on "What will keep health professionals wanting to stay in Qualicum Beach?"

Marie Noel

February 4 2026

We welcome your comments and feedback.

You can email us at QualicumBeachInsights@gmail.com

More info

Primrose press release link

Primrose Clinic floor plan

Mid Island Health Alliance Website

Flowerstone Clinic Website

Colwood Job posting for medical doctor

Bowen Island Community Health Centre ( A center that delivers services similar to those envisioned in the Primrose Centre but funded under contract with the Ministry of Health.)