Bleeding fuchsia

I have a small windbreak of the hedgerow variety of fuchsia (original plant came from my wife's parent's house in Scotland 50 years ago!).It needs to be cut back hard but the few cuts I have made so far keep bleeding. I assume this is due to the flow of sap not having totally shut down due to the mild winter.

What I have read about this implies that I should be pruning in spring, but when I tried this last year, the problem was worse. Arbrex too is no longer advised by RHS who basically recommends leaving it alone and it will heal eventually.

This goes against my professional training - I wouldn't leave a human to bleed in the hope that it would eventually stop!