HEALTH AUTHORITIES HAVE SECURED an interim court order for the closure of a private nursing home in Clara, Co Offaly.

The order means that the Upton House Nursing Home will be de-registered.

The Health Information and Quality Authority secured the order on the grounds there was a risk to life, or a serious risk to the health or welfare of 13 residents at the home, RTÉ reports.

In the course of its inspections at the home, HIQA authorities discovered that an elderly woman in her 90s incurred two fractured bones in her legs as a result of two falls she sustained in one day. Her falls had not been reported.

In a separate incident, a 58-year-old man who was found in an incoherent state was apparently left without medical treatment for hours. He later had to undergo significant surgery for possible cranial bleeding, according to RTÉ’s News at One.

HIQA said that the home had not made any serious efforts to remedy issues highlighted in their investigations.

The HSE has said it’s making every effort to ensure patients at the home suffer as little impact from moving out of the home as possible.