The Tasman region is the first to benefit from the police decommissioning their old fleet of road safety vehicles.
This former mobile road safety base is now being used as a mobile vaccination hub. Photo: NZ Police
The district health board, Nelson Marlborough Health, is now using the police district's old mobile road safety base as a mobile Covid-19 vaccination clinic.
Nelson Marlborough Health emergency manager Pete Kara said they were excited about the health services the mobile hub would allow them to provide.
"To get something similar off the ground on our own would have been months in the making," he said in a statement.
Nelson Marlborough Health has plans to eventually convert the base into a mobile treatment facility, with a refit that will include an examination bed to be used for minor procedures ensuring those in the region's remote areas can still receive the care they need.
Police are decommissioning their old fleet of mobile road safety base vehicles. Photo: NZ Police
Assistant Commissioner Bruce O'Brien of deployment and road policing said the vehicles were "no longer fit for purpose" and police were looking for ways to repurpose the old bases to help support communities.
The Covid-19 vaccination rollout provided an immediate opportunity, he said.
"We are [also] gifting the old bases enabling partner agencies to redirect funds towards other community initiatives that would have been used to secure a mobile asset," he said in a statement.
O'Brien said discussions are underway for further vehicles to be repurposed in the Tasman region.
Deputy Commissioner Wally Haumaha, iwi and communities, said possible uses included a vehicle being gifted to Ngāi Tūhoe for a multi-purpose health mobile unit and another to be used as a mobile driver licence learning centre for a youth-focused community group in Waitomo.
"This is a great opportunity for community organisations to give a new life to a significant resource that otherwise would have likely been scrapped or sold to a private entity," he said in a statement.
All the old police mobile road safety vehicles have undergone a safety inspection.
Police said they are being replaced with 28 new purpose-built vehicles which do not require an HT licence to drive, so are easier for all police staff to use.
