After several days of talks, the UK government and BMA agreed to ensure that junior doctors would receive normal rate payment for Saturdays and Sundays with extra pay overnight for the whole week.
"We welcome this significant agreement which delivers important changes to the junior doctors' contract necessary to deliver a safer seven day NHS [the UK National Health Service]. The talks have been constructive and positive and highlighted many areas outside the contract where further work is necessary to value the vital role of junior doctors and improve the training and support they are given," Hunt said, as quoted by the UK Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service's press release.
According to the health secretary, the agreement represents a "definitive step forward for patients, for doctors, and for the NHS as a whole."
The BMA and NHS Employers engaged in negotiations on new junior doctors' contracts in October 2013. Hunt announced plans in early 2016 to introduce a new employment contract for junior doctors in England under which doctors would be paid less for weekend shifts, sparking major protests in a number of cities.