The objective of this study was to evaluate the role of wound infection as a clinical indicator after colorectal surgery. We assessed 553 patients who were entered into clinical trials at Royal Perth Hospital. In the clinical trials, the incidence of wound infection after colorectal surgery was 12%, however, this rose to 20% for patients over 60 years of age and with an American Society of Anaesthesia score of greater than 2. One-third of these infections occurred following discharge from hospital. We found that the incidence of wound infection following colorectal surgery was dependent upon patient characteristics, and many infections occurred after discharge from hospital. Collecting this data accurately is time consuming and expensive. Therefore, for this reason alone, wound infection may not be an appropriate clinical indicator for patients undergoing colorectal surgery.