TAL wraps up fourth summer of national skin check initiative

TAL, a leading Australian life insurance specialist, has completed the fourth year of its national skin check initiative, TAL SpotChecker, having performed 750 free skin checks for TAL customers and the general public across Australia. 

The annual initiative is aimed at raising the awareness of the importance of skin checks as well as self-checking in early detection of skin cancer to encourage and enable more Australians to embrace skin safety and commit to regular skin checks. 

TAL SpotChecker visited three states over the summer, providing 287 skin checks by specialist skin cancer doctors at Bondi Beach, 216 at St Kilda Beach, and 247 at Cottesloe Beach. One in six of the people who received a skin check were referred for further testing. 

To ensure that the initiative achieves scale beyond the pop-up clinics, TAL also created a digital hub of online resources designed to help Australians learn more about skin safety and how to book a professional skin check through its “Find a GP near you” tool. 

The online tool allows people to be better connected with local healthcare providers and makes it easier for individuals to book a skin check at their own convenience. Since its launch in November 2019, TAL has seen more than 1,000 unique visitors [1] to the page. 

TAL General Manager, Health Services, Dr Sally Phillips, said TAL SpotChecker was designed to deliver better health outcomes for all Australians by reinforcing the importance of skin safety and early detection of skin cancers. 

“The annual program has continued to drive conversation around preventative health, and in particular regular skin checks all year round, to help tackle one of the nation’s most common cancers.” 

“Over the past four years, TAL has provided more than 4,000 free skin checks. We’re proud to have continued our commitment to driving awareness and action amongst Australians around skin safety, and, more broadly, preventative health, which aligns to TAL’s own health philosophy.” 

TAL’s consumer research commissioned in November 2019 found that 87% of Australians have not had a skin check in the past 12 months, with 28% never having had one at all.  

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

[1] “Unique visitors” refers to the number of distinct individuals visiting a website page.