Ramana Maharshi
What are Dr Karim's qualifications?
Dr Karim is a Consultant Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist. She studied medicine at Guy's, King's and St Thomas's medical school, University of London and completed her specialty training in Child & Adolescent Psychiatry in London and Surrey.
To read more about her qualifications please
click here.
Does my child need to see a psychiatrist or a psychologist?
A psychiatrist is a medically-qualified practitioner who will have spent 5-6 years training as a doctor. He or she will then have worked as a doctor in general medicine and surgery for at least a year. He or she will then have had at least six years of further training in helping people with mental illness and psychological problems. Core skills of psychiatrists include the diagnosis of mental illness, use of a range of psychological treatments and the use and prescription of medications.
Psychologists have a degree in psychology. Chartered Clinical Psychologists are not usually medically-trained, but have undertaken a long and robust training following their psychology degree. They are primarily concerned with the study of how people think, act, react and interact.
What ages of children does Dr Karim see?
Dr Karim sees children and young people aged from 9 years to 18 years.
She sees children aged 6 years to 18 years to carry out autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and ADHD assessments.
Where and when are Dr Karim's appointments?
Dr Karim offers appointments in lovely consulting rooms in Esher and Guildford. The rooms are warm and friendly and do not 'feel' clinical.
The full addresses are:
- Guildford (Brighter Spaces, 54 Quarry St, Guildford GU1 3UA) on Monday
- Esher (Esher Groves, 13-17 Church Street, Esher KT10 8QS) on Saturday
- Roehampton (The Priory Roehampton, Priory Lane, London SW15 5JJ) on Thursday
For more information on Dr Karim's clinic venues, please click
here.
She is also able to offer follow-up consultations via Videoconference if requested.
What is Dr Karim's cancellation policy?
Dr Karim understands that life with children can be unpredicatable and offers a full refund for all appointments cancelled with a minimum of 72 hours notice.
Those cancelled with less than 72 hours notice will be charged in full.
How does Dr Karim accept payment?
Dr Karim accepts payment online by debit or credit card or by bank transfer. If you are booking a paid appointment online, you are able to pay with debit or credit card at the time of booking the appointment.
If you phone or email Dr Karim to request an appointment, you will be sent an invoice with details of how to pay online or bank account details for payment by bank transfer. Payment is due in advance of each appointment.
Dr Karim is also registered with the major insurance companies and, if you are funded by private insurance, will bill them directly.
Does Dr Karim accept payment from private medical insurers (e.g., Bupa, Aviva)?
Dr Karim is registered with the majority of private medical insurers including BUPA, Cigna, WPA, Vitality and Aviva. Please note that Dr Karim does not work with AXA PPP.
If your child is covered by private medical insurance and you would like to see Dr Karim, please confirm with your insurance company that they will cover an appointment with her before booking your appointment.
The private medical insurance information that Dr Karim will request from you in order to book your appointment is:
- The name of the main policy holder - The address of the main policy holder
- The name of the insurance company and the policy number
- The name and date of birth of your child
- The authorisation code/ claim reference number
Can Dr Karim offer talking therapies?
Dr Karim is practiced in talking therapies and is able to offer them to her patients if required.
However because her appointment slots are frequently fully booked, she normally recommends that patients see a psychologist for talking therapies and see her for medication reviews and prescriptions. She is able to recommend suitable psychologists.
What happens in a typical initial appointment?
Each appointment runs slightly differently depending on factors such as the condition being treated and the age of your child.
However, in general, Dr Karim will speak to you and your child together, then will spend some time speaking to your child individually and finally will discuss and agree a treatment plan with both you and your child together.
How does Dr Karim carry out an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) assessment?
The process that Dr Karim follows to carry out an ASD assessment is:
1) Dr Karim will send a collection of electronic questionnaires to you, your child and your child's teacher (e.g., ASSQ, AQ, Conners).
2) Dr Karim will schedule a videoconference with you to take a developmental history. This takes approximately 1 hour.
3) Dr Karim will meet with you and your child in her Guildford clinic to carry out a formal, structured ADOS interview. This is carried out together with a Clinical Psychologist that Dr Karim works with so that the assessment is multidisciplinary.
4) Dr Karim will write a report of her findings within 2 to 3 weeks and offer you a telephone call to talk through it.
If Dr Karim prescribes medication, how do I obtain it?
If Dr Karim prescribes medication for your child, she will issue you a private prescription (all prescriptions issued in any private consultation from any consultant in the UK will be a private prescription).
This prescription can be taken to any pharmacy. The pharmacy will charge for the medication issued.
After every appointment, Dr Karim will write to your GP surgery and let them know if she has prescribed medication. She is happy to ask in this letter if your GP surgery can prescribe this medication and issue an NHS prescrption- whether they do so or not is at their discretion and GP surgeries have different policies on this.
