And even fewer – 47% – felt confident that their knowledge and skills were sufficient to help people most at risk of malnutrition.
The findings come from an online survey of 1,518 health and care professionals conducted by Dods Research between December 8-19 last year.
The survey ‘Experiences of Patient Malnutrition’ also shows that half of the professionals interviewed felt unsure about what services or support were available in their community.
Dianne Jeffrey, chair of The Malnutrition Task Force and chairman of Age UK said: “Eating and drinking well is a vital part of maintaining good health and independence.
“And while we generally think of malnutrition as a problem for low income countries, the sad fact is that many older people in the UK today are malnourished or at risk of becoming so.
“Malnutrition is a really knotty problem. While many of the interventions are relatively simple, to be really effective they require a wide range of services to come together, recognise the problem and each make a contribution towards tackling it.
“However at the moment the sad fact is in too many areas this isn’t happening.
“Malnutrition is often overlooked and isn’t tackled very effectively at any point in the care journey, so many people slip through the net and never receive proper help.”
She said that about 1.3 million people older people in the UK suffer from malnutrition, with the vast majority (93%) of those living in the community.