This study highlights perceived issues in the patient care pathway in the transition from inpatient to community-based care, especially communication and discharge information delivered by surgical clinical teams. Comprehensive inpatient care and clinical handover to primary care (rather than discharge planning processes) by dedicated clinical trauma services may provide more holistic models for surgical services to improve their influence on the transition of trauma patients into the community, assisted by organisation changes and support to enable effective service delivery. This is the first qualitative study to investigate the experience of Waikato Hospital (non-major) trauma patients and their families/whanau as they transition from inpatient surgical services to community-based care. The findings will inform system changes to support improved health, vocational and social outcomes for injured patients.