The initial findings of the review were shared at the NHS Alliance Mental Health and Learning Disabilities conference last week.

Dr Dash described her review as a ‘stock take and not necessarily a strategic review'.

She added: ‘I'm sure we will draw some conclusions from it but it's much more to say "what's our starting point?" '

The review found a 50% variation in what ICBs spend per population on mental health care.

Dr Dash said the level of variation suggested a ‘significant need for improvement' in the quality of care and raised the question over whether clearer commissioning guidance was needed for ICBs.

She commented: ‘Over the last 10 years we have put a lot of money into buildings and staff, particularly in the acute sector and mental health, far less so into primary care, community care and primary prevention, but the spend is all over the place.'

In addition, Dr Dash revealed a ‘staggering' 1.5m hectares of land is owned by the Mental Health Trust worth at a value of £3trn.

‘This is a very high building, high estate, low utilisation sector and of course a lot of those buildings are not in good quality so should we be exiting buildings? she asked.

‘Should we be using space more efficiently and using the capital receipt from that?'

Rebecca Gray, mental health director at The NHS Alliance, said: ‘This demonstrates the importance of designing commissioning and services based on high-quality health data and a deep understanding of communities and mental health need.

‘Mental health leaders work hard to develop services for patients that span different organisations and sectors with the funding they are given.'