NHS staff in Scotland should be refunded the cost of parking at hospitals, according to the Scottish Conservatives.

Three major hospitals - Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and Glasgow's Royal Infirmary - still charge for parking, despite the practice being scrapped in 2008.

Staff and visitors are still required to pay as the hospitals are locked into private finance initiative (PFI) arrangements.

The scheme was set up by the Conservative government in the 1990s and allowed hospitals, schools and prisons to be built by private contractors before being rented back to the public sector.

Any money that remained following construction of the buildings, as well as "rent" money, could then be kept by the contractor.

Nurses at Glasgow Royal Infirmary launched a petition earlier this month after the parking tariff per hour was increased to £1.70.

Staff estimated the rise could cost them around £20 each day they attend work.

Scottish Conservative MSP Miles Briggs has suggested the cost of remunerating hospital workers would be "at most" £2.7m a year.

Mr Briggs urged the Scottish Government to examine whether such a scheme would be feasible.

"This would be the kind of gesture that would show NHS staff that they are valued by government and the taxpayer," said Mr Briggs.

"It would also make a practical improvement to the working lives of NHS staff, many of whom work long and awkward hours at these hospitals.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "We agree that parking charges at hospitals put an unnecessary financial burden on NHS staff as well as patients and their families.

"The Scottish Government has made it clear repeatedly that we would like charges abolished at all hospital car parks.

"We have done this in NHS-owned hospitals across Scotland, but unfortunately there are three car parks locked into long-term PFI contracts which is a legacy from previous governments.

"We have ensured through the funding mechanisms we use to deliver new projects that charging for hospital car parking is not permitted."

A spokesman for health secretary Jeanne Freeman added: "The Tory party support the continued imposition of hospital parking charges all across England and have no intention of removing these charges or paying the cost of parking for staff.

"Where the Tories have the power to remove parking charges for NHS staff they refuse to do so, which clearly shows the total hypocrisy of the Scottish Tory party.

"If there was an honour handed out for brass necks then the Scottish Tories would be first in line to receive the award."