Okay - here's the thing. I wouldn't let a parent within sniffing distance of a care home unless you've already got LPA in Health and Welfare. And Finance too, but the first is important. You don't say if you parent has mental capacity, but that is a nebulous area.
Without Lasting Power of Attorney, you are simply not the decision maker for your parent's care once they are deemed to have lost mental capacity. Someone else is - a State operative, a social worker etc. In my experience - Surrey - social workers act in cahoots with the local care homes, against the 'best interests' of the resident. In other words, they can join forces with the care home to actually keep your parent stuck in that care home forever. Self-funding? Excellent, they're more likely to do this than not - why, they want your money and as a self-funder you will be subsidising the council-funded residents, it's a fiddle.
If there's an outbreak of Covid in the care home, you may at once change your mind and want her out. No LPA? Not your decision to make. Getting angry? 'Abuse and intimidation will not be tolerated' and you will be barred.
I'm not saying this WILL happen, not a bit of it. I'm saying it can.
Also, from what we read about grooming gangs in Oxford, certainly social services re the young is toxic, no reason to assume it's any better in Adult Social Care.
CQC totally corrupt in my experience, they sit on bad care home reports for eight months to tacitly support them. Positive, improved reports are rushed through with indecent haste.
I'd go by word of mouth if you can. Oh, and you may want to establish whether your parent is DNR and so on. (I'd advise against.) If your parent has an underlying condition like Parkinson's I'd be on your guard.
You'll need labels sewn into her clothes so they don't get lost, no valuable items should be admitted into the care home.
If her condition deteriorates because of poor care, the argument may be used to suggest that is a reason she has to stay and not return home - while your family inheritance is fleeced. Again, easily done if you don't have LPA - hey, you're not the decision maker!
You may want to check your so-called 'social worker' is actually registered as a social worker because if not a) They can't be struck off and b) They can 'recommend' any care home they want.
You'll probably be alright, just flagging stuff up. Oh, corresponding with a social worker? Do it via email or you can later prove nothing.
I put my mother's various care homes in the local and national press for what they did to her. Nobody ever gets into any trouble and social workers are not allowed to be mentioned, let alone named. I cannot recommend any of the 7 Surrey care homes she attended though to be fair, respite might be okay, if the worst happens the State will cover up for them. Avoid Barchester, Bupa, Four Seasons, Compassion Homes, any of those big chains. An idea of how bad it is is that the former head of the CQC went on to be on the board of one of the more notorious care home chains, that's just how it is.