Victoria LeggettThe Evening News has been inundated with calls from patients who have also been treated in the same way. Here is what they had to say:As Robert O'Neill laid on a hospital bed in a treatment room, a doctor sticking a needle into his spine, two nurses wandered in to grab supplies.Victoria Leggett

The Evening News has been inundated with calls from patients who have also been treated in the same way. Here is what they had to say:

As Robert O'Neill laid on a hospital bed in a treatment room, a doctor sticking a needle into his spine, two nurses wandered in to grab supplies.

The 35-year-old went to the NNUH with a suspected bleed on the brain and was shown into one of the cupboard-like rooms for a lumbar puncture.

Mr O'Neill, of Mile Cross, Norwich, said he thought it was exactly the same room Mrs Talbot, whose story was reported in yesterday's Evening News, spent the night in on Heydon ward.

He added: 'While the guy was shoving a needle in my back, risking being paralysed, people were walking in and getting stock off the shelves.

'I was shocked when the first person walked in. They just said 'sorry, didn't realise anyone was in here'.'

The treatment lasted just 30 minutes but Mr O'Neill said he should not have been in there at all.

He added: 'I couldn't' believe it when I found out someone had been put in there to sleep. It's even worse. I was shocked to be in there for a short space of time.'

Jason Billard spent more than 12 hours - including an entire night - in the 'store cupboard' ahead of two operations to remove a cyst from his knee.

The 39-year-old said the nurses seemed as appalled as he was that the room, filled with bandages and regularly visited by nurses looking for clean dressings, was used for patients.

He said: 'I wasn't going to complain because the nurses were so good. They're not happy about it either. They said to me I should've had a bed.

'They keep sticking people in these treatment rooms - people are going in and out all the time.'

The father-of-four, who lives in Mile Cross, Norwich, was admitted with an infection in his knee two weeks ago. He was put in a treatment room at the beginning of his stay because of a lack of beds but later moved to the main ward for the remainder of his eight-day visit.

A 52-year-old cancer survivor was moved into a treatment room 36 hours before being discharged.

Charlotte Pinnock had suffered a fall at her home in Lakenham, Norwich, breaking her hip, ribs, left arm and cracking her skull.

The mother-of-three had been in hospital since Boxing Day and was put in the treatment room, without any explanation, a day and a half before being sent home on January 12.

Her daughter Josie said: 'She had no idea where she was. She assumed it was a store room. People kept coming in and out in the night. There were no windows.'

They estimated 20 nurses popped in, moving her each time to reach the drawers, during her stay.

Miss Pinnock, 18, said her mum had been in and out of the NNUH for 11 years during her fight against cancer - which has left her with serious damage to her face and difficulties speaking - but had never before been placed in a treatment room.

Another former patient was asked twice if she would move into a treatment and refused.

She said: 'I want to pass on the advice I was given by the nursing staff - just say no. They can't force you.'

The 55-year-old, who did not want to be named, said she originally agreed to move from her bed on a ward after it was described as a 'side room'.

But once she realised it was the 'store room' opposite the entrance to the ward, she changed her mind.

She said: 'The nurse said 'that's fine by us, we don't want it either'. The staff were fantastic. I can't fault the staff.'

The nurses admitted it contained all their supplies and they were likely to be in and out all night.

The woman, who lives in the Norwich area, was in hospital for a total of five days because of gall bladder and liver problems. She was asked to move on the third day and again on the fourth.