TAL launches national skin check initiative for the fourth year

TAL, a leading Australian life insurance specialist, launched its national skin check initiative, TAL SpotChecker, for the fourth year running at Bondi Beach.

Through the annual program, TAL is seeking to encourage and enable more Australians to embrace skin safety, by providing customers and the general public access to free skin checks from qualified professionals as well as resources to educate them around the importance of preventative health and getting a skin check.

TAL Chief Customer and Brand Officer, Alex Homer, said the TAL SpotChecker initiative reflects TAL’s strong belief in the role preventative health plays in Australians’ overall wellbeing.

“We’re committed to helping our customers live healthier lives through our Health Sense program, which incentivises them to engage with preventative health by providing discounts on their premiums for doing so, along with the funding of effective and practical community initiatives such as this,” Mr Homer said.

New research from TAL has revealed that more than half (56%) of Australians consider themselves sun smart, yet 87% have not had a skin check in the past 12 months, with 28% never having had one at all.

TAL General Manager of Health Services, Dr Sally Phillips, said the belief that skin cancer only happens to others is a main barrier to Australians taking preventative action.

“As one of the most easily detectable and preventable cancers, it’s so important that professional skin checks and self-checking become an integral part of everyone’s general health routine.

“It’s clear from our research that although Australians have a natural tendency to be looking out for our loved ones when it comes to engaging in skin safety, this is not the case when it comes to skin cancer prevention for ourselves. The research found that a lack of time is a contributing factor to not getting checked. Through TAL SpotChecker, we’re aiming to encourage Australians to take a more proactive approach to their own preventative health and understand the need to put their own health first,” Dr Phillips said.

In addition to the pop-up skin check clinics, TAL has created a hub of online resources to help Australians find a local GP where they can book a skin check, as well as learn more about skin cancer and how to self-check using the Firstcheck app on their smartphone. Firstcheck enables people to get their skin concerns checked by a doctor – anytime, anywhere.

In the three years since TAL SpotChecker launched, TAL has provided over 3,400 skin checks. Last year, 1 in 5 people were referred for further checks.

Building on the success from the past few summers, TAL SpotChecker launched at Bondi Beach on the first weekend of summer (30 November-1 December), before heading to South Beach Reserve in St Kilda (7-8 December), followed by Cottesloe Beach in Perth (11-12 January).

Visit www.tal.com.au/tal-spotchecker for more information and resources.