Premier Dalton McGuinty is promising cancer patients more care in eastern Ontario.

McGuinty visited the Queensway-Carleton Hospital Friday where he committed $82 million to build a new cancer clinic at the west end hospital.

Construction on the project is scheduled to begin immediately and the centre is expected to open sometime next year.

Officials hope the new clinic will help speed up the diagnosis of high volume cancers, such as breast, prostate and colorectal cancer.

"We're getting smarter at predicting, preventing, treating and curing cancer," McGuinty told a crowd gathered at the hospital for the announcement.

McGuinty says Ontario has made several advances in the province's struggle to fight cancer, particularly in eastern Ontario.

The CEO of the area's largest hospital says the new cancer centre will help fulfill a cancer plan for patients in the region.

"Today, the citizens of Ottawa's west and the Ottawa Valley can expect high quality cancer care much closer to home," said Jack Kitts, of the Ottawa Hospital.

However, a new cancer centre is not going to be a simple cure for the much needed attention cancer patients in the region require.

"Our cancer system as we all acknowledge is not perfect. And much needs to be done to continue to improve the quality of the cancer system in Ontario," said Terry Sullivan of Cancer Care Ontario.

Creating more space at area hospitals is one of the priorities that must be met in order to better serve patients in the region.

"Our capacity as fast as we can almost build it, quite honestly, is being utilized," said Tom Schonberg, CEO of the Queensway-Carleton Hospital.

The addition of a cancer clinic to the Ottawa area will increase the flow of patients at the Queensway-Carleton Hospital, which is already having difficulty finding enough space for current patients.

The hospital has been forced to cancel several surgeries in the past few months because it doesn't always have enough beds for its patients.

McGuinty says he realizes additional money won't fix the space problems plaguing health facilities across Ontario.

"We've done much but much more needs to be done," he said.

McGuinty says delivering long term care to people at home and establishing additional long term care facilities for Ontario's aging population would likely help ease the strain on area hospitals.

With a report from CTV's Chris Day