Severely injured patients may develop sepsis which maybe fatal. Sepsis may arise as the result of another disease or as a result of an infection following a traumatic accident. It would useful to understand the proportion of all sepsis patients in New Zealand hospitals that the infection arises from a traumatic accident rather than arising from non-accident cause such as a secondary infection. It would be useful to have data on the fatalities arising from these sepsis infections and the total cost of treating sepsis patients where sepsis develops following an accident.

Justifying the investment in new tools that would aid in earlier diagnosis of sepsis thus saving lives and reducing the cost of treating patients that suffer from sepsis that develops following an accident. Sepsis is difficult to diagnose.

ACC could then justify investment in the development of an improved diagnostic tool to improve treatment of sepsis patients, reduce fatalities and reduce costs for ACC.