Sean Cloak

Meet London Ambulance Service paramedic Sean Cloak, who shares his clinical knowledge as a Visiting Lecturer.

A supportive learning environment

Sean has recently returned to clinical practice, working full time as an operational paramedic with the London Ambulance Service and works on a Fast Response Vehicle (FRV) based out of Becontree Ambulance Station. He is also a Visiting Lecturer for the Paramedic Science team at Herts. Sean says, ‘the University of Hertfordshire is incredibly fortunate to have highly professional and talented lecturing staff who ultimately then became colleagues of mine when I joined the team as a Senior Lecturer. These individuals have shaped my career and still do today by supporting and guiding me in my development.’

Sean applied to various universities offering Paramedic Science around the country, but Herts ultimately became his first choice for two reasons, ‘It was one of the first university's to successfully deliver a paramedic degree and it was partnered with the London Ambulance Service. It was also the reputation of the University and the long-standing history of the course itself.’

A hands-on course

Although the Paramedic Science course has changed over the years, Sean’s favourite aspect of his course whilst he was at Herts, was the split nature of it between employment for the London Ambulance Service and university study. Sean qualified as an EMT (emergency medical technician) in his first year after undergoing operational training with the ambulance service. For his remaining two years of study, he worked for the London Ambulance Service whilst studying for his degree. Sean says ‘this provided me with a perfect balance of theory and practical based learning. I also got a wage from working which helped me as a student.’

Friends for life

The most memorable part of Sean’s student experience was the friends he made. He says, ‘the friends that I made from my course when I was a student over 10 years ago now are still my closest, we are all still in contact, we are all married and have our own children now and we are all still working within the ambulance and pre-hospital sector.’

The future

‘My next achievement would be to finally do an MSc, but for now my focus is on watching and being present for my 2 young children as they grow up.’