If you recall, the Gov't [following the advice of PHE] were supposedly ensuring the NHS was not overwhelmed & did not or could not make PPE or testing available to the nursing homes [remember the debacle of the Turkey airlift of PPE which largely proved to be not up to spec]
So in ensuring the NHS was not overwhelmed those people who were sent out to ill equipped largely private nursing homes were metaphorically speaking,sacrificed & that's the truth of the matter