Do social workers have nothing to offer older people?

Here is an interesting table, taken from a Commons Library Standard Note: you can find it here:

Social Care indicators

Citation:  Harker, R. (2012) Community care: Social Indicators page. SN/SG/2643. London: House of Commons Library.

In the press, it is often taken for granted that community care is largely for older people. If you look at home care, equipment and adaptations and meals it is. And most other things are half and half. But if you look at professional support you will see that older people get much less than half. Yet they are a very big proportion of the clients of adult social care departments compared with physically and mentally ill and disabled people and people with learning disabilities. So why do these other groups get half or more of these services and lots more professional support?

Do older people and their families get a raw deal from adult social care in receiving professional support from social workers and others? Considering they are such a big proportion of adult social care clients - why?

Could it be that older people and their families are not interesting to social workers? Or that local authorities think social workers have nothing to offer them? Or that local authorities are not bothering with the more complex support needs of older people - just zap in the routine services and ignore their personal cares and concerns.