HEALTH secretary Jeremy Hunt is making a last-ditch effort to win over junior doctors ahead of a strike ballot in the increasingly bitter working hours dispute.

The Health Secretary has written directly to every trainee in England, setting out details of a proposed new contract that would see basic pay rise by 11 per cent.

Bolton South East MP Yasmin Qureshi has been contacted by several junior doctors from Bolton concerned about the proposed change in conditions and raised the issue in Parliament last week.

Mr Hunt insists the deal, part of the Government's push for a "seven day" NHS, would leave three quarters better off. Everyone else would have their pay protected apart from around 1% who are currently working "excessive" hours.

The average working week will still be 48 hours, and the maximum will be reduced from 91 to 72.

Although Mr Hunt is standing by plans to stop the whole weekend being treated as "anti-social hours", he has made a limited concession by offering additional pay after 7pm on Saturdays and Sundays - rather than 10pm as previously mooted.

The Government has also created an online pay calculator in a bid to prove to trainees that they will not suffer under the new system - after criticising one previously produced together by the BMA.

Ministers want to scrap the complicated "banding" system, which builds up earnings based on responsibilities, hours worked and how often they are on call.

But they are proposing to offset those sums with the hike of around 11 per cent in basic salary, together with supplements such as for being on call, working out of hours, and premiums for working in disciplines with staff shortages.

Flexible pay premiums would be applied to more specialities than just general practice and A&E care - acute medical ward staff and psychiatrists benefiting.

Mr Hunt said: "I'm completely committed to the values of the NHS - the same values that encourage aspiring doctors to take up a career in medicine.

"We again make the guarantee that no junior doctor working within the current limits will see a pay cut compared to their current contract."

Responding to news of the offer, BMA junior doctors committee chairman Dr Johann Malawana said: "Junior doctors need facts, not piecemeal announcements and we need to see the full detail of this latest, 11th-hour offer to understand what, in reality, it will mean for junior doctors."