Although some 160 million GP consults occur every year, they remain something of a black box for researchers when it comes to finding out what exactly is going on inside them.

There has been analysis of self-reported data created after the consult ends, the best known being the now-defunct Bettering the Evaluation and Care of Health (BEACH) study that was run by the University of Sydney until the Federal Government pulled the funding a decade ago.

Much of this was doctors documenting the conditions being assessed, the medications prescribed, referrals and tests. But it was fairly high level.

But there is now a digital library of real consults as they take place, put together by Monash University with financial support from its National Centre of Healthy Ageing.