Life insurer TAL is raising skin-cancer awareness with free pop-up skin check clinics at three of Australia’s most popular beaches as summer gets underway.

The national skin check initiative, now in its fourth year, kicked off with TAL’s SpotChecker service at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on the last weekend in November. It continued in Melbourne’s St Kilda South Beach Reserve on Saturday and Sunday and moves to Perth’s Cottesloe Beach on January 11.

TAL is encouraging more Australians to embrace skin safety with free access to qualified professionals and education on the importance of preventative health and getting a skin check.

The life insurer has created a hub of online resources to help Australians find a local GP and learn how to self-check using the Firstcheck app.

“A lack of time is a contributing factor to not getting checked, TAL GM of Health Services Sally Phillips said. “Through TAL SpotChecker, we’re aiming to encourage Australians to take a more proactive approach.”

New research by TAL shows 56% of Australians consider themselves sun smart, yet 87% have not had a skin check in the past 12 months and 28% have never had one.

Two in three Australians are diagnosed with some form of skin cancer, which is one of the most easily detectable and preventable cancers, by the age 70.

At Bondi on November 30 and December 1 TAL completed 287 skin checks, with only 18 referred on for further checks. This 6% referral rate was down substantially from 2018 when 1 in 5 people were referred on.

Around 4000 free TAL skin checks have been notched up since the initiative began.